Just what is acclaimed director, producer, and screenwriter Nicolas Winding Refn listening to these days? Would you believe us if we told you it was ska? That's right, Mr. Refn, whose latest films have featured Cliff Martinez' moody '80s-inflected synth scores, has been getting into the up-beat, Jamaican, skankin' precursor to reggae. Before his and Cliff Martinez' recent soundtrack signing at Amoeba Hollywood the director picked up two great compilations by the legendary Jamaican labels Treasure Isle and Trojan. But, of course, it wasn't all island grooves for Refn, and we were not surprised to find a plethora of eclectic music in his bag.

Refn launched onto the movie scene with the release of the Danish crime drama Pusher in 1996. This was followed by 1999's Bleeder, as well as two Pusher sequels in 2004 and 2005 respectively. Refn wrote his first English-language flick, Fear X, in 2003, but gained more attention with the 2008 release of Bronson, starring Tom Hardy.

His first major success in America came with 2011's Drive, a Cannes favorite that led to his acceptance of the festival's Best Director Award. Only God Forgives hit theaters next, and was followed in 2016 by The Neon Demon. The film was in competition for the Palme d'Or at Cannes that year--Refn's third picture to do so.

Nicolas Winding Refn’s brilliant thriller, many people’s favorite movie of 2011, featuring one of the bestselling soundtracks of the year, came out on DVD and Blu-ray in January 2012 and sold better at Amoeba than many movies with much bigger box office takes.

We are once again right in the middle of awards season. The Golden Globes were this last weekend. And the Oscars are about 5 weeks away. The Oscar Nominations come out this Tuesday the 24th of January. So this is the time of year when I like to get together with my coworker Jackie and talk about what we think will be nominated. What we hope is nominated. I basically like to pretend that we are members of the Academy putting in our votes for the various Oscar categories. We are sadly without our moderator Miss Ess from the last couple of years. If you are feeling nostalgic for last years Oscars, here is our Oscar nomination predictions for 2010 blog from last year. So it will be just Jackie and I this year. We both see a ton of movies every year and of course have our opinions about what are favorite films and performances were.

Are you ready. Here we go...

Brad:
Jackie! Are you ready for this? I seriously can't believe it is already time for this. I have been trying to catch up the last couple of weeks and see all the movies that I need to see. I am still a bit behind. But I saw Tin Tin on Sunday and just saw Young Adult last week. So I am almost there. We should start off first by talking about the host. I was happy that Brett Ratner resigned from the show. I was really not looking forward to a show produced by him. I had come to accept Eddie Murphy as the host. But after he dropped out too I was really hoping for some interesting choices. I think the show should always be hosted by a comedian. Last year just didn't really work. I still think Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon would be great together. But we are getting Billy Crystal this year. I actually think he did a great job in years past as the host. So I think it will be a fun show again. Maybe not as edgy as I had hoped. But it is the Oscars. I expect him to come out on a horse wearing a Hawaiian Shirt with a baseball bat and maybe a dragon tattoo. Maybe dressed up as a maid or a bridesmaid. But maybe he will surprise us all with some amazing material and jokes. I am looking forward to the show as always. Regardless of who the host is. Jackie...Thoughts on the host. Are you hoping for a When Harry Met Sally reunion on stage. Or maybe he could come out with Carol Kane in their makeup from The Princess Bride.

Last year wasn't too good for movies, but it was great for scores. I can't remember a year where I listened and re-listened to so much music from films: Cliff Martinez electronic-based Drive, Contagion and The Lincoln Lawyer; Alexandre Desplat's The Tree of Life and The Ides of March; Alberto Iglesias' The Skin I Live In and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; and, probably my favorite of the year, The Chemical Brothers' Hanna (much better than Daft Punk's overrated TRON: Legacy). I'll be surprised if any but Desplat gets nominated for an Oscar, though. Another likely Oscar candidate is Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor's The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, which I really liked, but haven't yet had a chance to listen to it independently of the film. And Jeremy Schmidt's analog sound designs for Beyond the Black Rainbow are amazing (somewhere in the territory of Wendy Carlos' The Shining), but I'm not quite sure what's diegetic and extra-diegetic until an album is released.

As for my list of best films: most of these I enjoyed some parts of, while not exactly the whole. I'd say the overall best of the bunch are Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Meek's Cutoff and Super, but my favorite sequences of the year came from Hanna, Drive and Beyond the Black Rainbow.

13 Assassins - Takashi Miike

I never seem to tire of action films questioning when it's appropriate or moral to use violence. As I previously discussed, 13 Assassins does a good job of critiquing the aestheticization of violence while aestheticizing the violence.